


when i count my crows, i count you twice

by Bazzys



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Cannibalism, Character Death, Ghouls, Gore, Halloween, Horror, Murder, Other, Violence, cawllection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-03 13:41:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21180374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bazzys/pseuds/Bazzys
Summary: Some things are just better left being avoided





	when i count my crows, i count you twice

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited about this collection y'all, I had to write this after Mingi posted that One Photo with the scary filter ooof  
And it's my first horror fic!! Yay :3

The rain is coming down hard, hitting concrete walls and metal railings before splattering into puddles on the ground. The sound of heavy drops colliding with the city landscape was loud, deafening out the boots of people scurrying about to find shelter and tires rolling against the asphalt. Yellow cones from lamp posts along the street lights onto the sidewalk, but despite the warm glow they seem cold at night, especially a night like this. 

Mingi watches from where he’s seated in an alley, separated from the rest of the bustling world. Nobody pays him any attention, like he’s invisible to the public eye. It’s as if there exists a bubble around him that steers people to skirt well around him. His back is resting against a metal dumpster with more rust stains than emerald paint left, hugging his knees close to his chest. He’s soaked to the bone, not wearing a jacket. He curls up even more, shrinking into himself as his breaths come out in clouds of frost. He’s alone, where he’s sitting in the dark, like he always is. He prefers it that way. 

Some things are just better left being avoided. 

The constant drumming of the rain lets up just the slightest, but it’s enough to hear the echo of footsteps coming his way. They stop in front of him, and he glances ahead to find a pair of bright yellow rain boots. 

“Are you alright?” a worried voice asks from where they’re leaned over him.

He looks up, finding a young girl’s face staring down at him with furrowed brows. Her cheeks are flushed from the walk in cold weather, her eyes big and round. She’s pretty, Mingi thinks, with her hair hanging in messy parts over her scarf. 

“Why are you here by yourself?” she asks carefully, extending a hand to help him up. Mingi shies away. He can see it makes her feel bad. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you,” she smiles, the warm reassurance in her voice reaching her eyes as she holds her hand out once more, this time palm up. 

Mingi eyes the outstretched arm, then back to her face. She doesn’t falter, cocking her head to the side and smiling wider, showing off a row of straight, white teeth. Mingi takes her hand hesitantly, letting himself get helped to his feet. The girl moves the umbrella so it shelters them both. 

Mingi stands there awkwardly, one arm crossed in front of him to hold the elbow of the other. He’s feeling small under her curious gaze, eyes fixed on the toe of his shoe rubbing at a piece of gum on the ground to avoid hers. 

“You must be cold,” she mourns, cautiously peeling her scarf off to wrap it around his shoulders. Mingi once again tries to move away, but the dumpster is blocking him from doing so, and he whimpers at the loud bang it gives off when he kicks against it. “Oh, you poor thing, it’s okay,” she coaxes, letting him put it on himself. 

Once wrapped up, he notices the faint fragrance of perfume coming from the clothing and her. Mingi dares a glance at her face. The corners of her mouth are turned down, bottom lip sticking out slightly in a pout that Mingi would say is cute, and it eases his nerves a little. 

She offers him another short smile. “Are you hurt anywhere?” she asks and looks him over despite Mingi shaking his head no. “How long have you been out here?” 

Mingi doesn’t answer at first. He fidgets, pulling at a loose string of the knitted scarf before realising that he probably shouldn’t. “A while,” he mumbles, voice hoarse from the late night October air. He doesn’t speak a lot. There’s really no need when there’s nobody to talk to.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she pouts again.

Mingi sniffs and wipes at his runny nose. He sees her hand coming up to rub lightly at his back, and he jolts at the contact. She draws her hand back momentarily, but reaches out again when he doesn’t pull away. 

“Do you have anyone to go to?” she asks, and he senses an underlying meaning behind the words. _Do you have anyone at all?_

He looks away, ashamed at having to be taken care of by a stranger. She stills at his movement, not wanting him to feel unsafe. She’s at a loss of what to say, struggling to find words of comfort when Mingi sniffles quietly. There’s a silence over them, the sound of rain filling the alley and echoing between the walls. She starts rubbing his back again, Mingi leaning a little closer to the affection she’s offering. That seems to untense her shoulders a bit.

“You must be hungry,” she points out.

Mingi glances at her for a split second before looking away again, and nods. She steps closer, taking off her backpack. The hand soothing Mingi disappears into the bag, rummaging around for a bit. Mingi leans over to look at the contents. 

“I’m sorry I don’t have too much,” she says, pulling out a green apple, “but at least it’s something, right?”

Her eyes meet his then, and this time they stay locked. She’s drawn in, losing herself in them, like being dropped in the sea and swept away by the waves. Legs heavy as lead, she’s frozen to the spot, breath coming out in shallow puffs of condensed air. Mingi is staring back, keeping her captive under his gaze. The apple hits the ground, bouncing once and rolling away at her feet. 

The rain comes down harder than before, the volume of it overwhelming. She wants to look away, to cover her ears, but her limbs aren’t responding. She’s not sure if it’s the water from the sky or her heart that’s beating the loudest against her ear drums, but she knows she wants to scream for it to stop. Her tongue is tied, she can’t talk, yet she feels her lips move to form words her brain hasn’t even registered yet.

“Are you hungry?”

_”Yes.”_

Tears well up in her eyes. She’s sweating in her woollen sweater, but there’s cold fingers running up her spine, sending shivers through her every fiber as Mingi licks his lips in front of her. His eyes have changed; they used to be big and innocent and glassy under his wet hair. 

They used to be brown.

Now they’re pitch black and pointed, regarding her with a hunger that makes every hair on her body stand on end. And in the middle, they’re a deep red. 

She suddenly realises her tears are spilling freely, rolling down her cheeks to fall from her chin, leaving behind rapidly cooling streaks on her skin. The umbrella hits the concrete beneath her feet, one rod snapping loudly in the roaring rain. When her brain catches up to her next words, her blood runs cold.

“Eat me.”

The terror in her peaks as soon as the words are out. Mingi’s lips part, revealing a row of sharp, pointed teeth. They glint in the dim light, and his lips stretches further, as far as they can. His mouth is too big to fit in his head, she realises when he starts gaping, there's too many teeth. She cries without a sound, eyes almost completely round in fear, and Mingi keeps gaping, gapes until his lips are stretched to their limit.

She’s frightened, feeling small against the inevitable fact that _this is it, this is where I die_, her soul being compressed into nothing under the huge weight of the realisation. Images of her friends flash through her head, her memories and regrets passing like shooting stars on a clear night. Her breath is hitching, she’s choking on the words she never got to say, and then the corners of Mingi’s mouth rip open, the flesh of his cheeks tearing all the way to his ears and creating a huge black hole in his face, his jaw hanging at an unnatural angle. 

She sobs. Blood is dripping from Mingi’s torn cheeks, coating his teeth. With his entire face covered in red, he resembles a lion just emerging from an animal carcass. He licks it away, a disproportionately long tongue gliding over the points only for them to puncture the flesh like razor blades, causing more scarlet to seep out and roll down his chin. 

His tongue flicks about, and it sprays droplets of still hot blood into the air around them, some landing onto her face and her eyes flinches, she blinks on her own accord and she’s suddenly free from Mingi’s hold over her. 

She runs. 

He’s been waiting, watching her pass through every day for weeks, itching to chase, to _hunt_, to be let out of the cage that keeps him contained and allow that predatorial part of him the bliss of the adrenaline. He’s been yearning, on the brink of breaking more than once, but he waited for the perfect moment. 

That moment is now. 

Mingi chuckles behind her, the sinister mockery bouncing off the walls and echoing in her ears. She stumbles, yelps, but doesn’t stop. The rush in his veins makes his skin crawl with adrenaline. He leans to the ground, watches her splash through puddles, and he counts.

_One for ruthless_

_Two for cruel_

_Three for the girl_

_And four for the ghoul_

She panting now. He remains calm.

_Five for blood_

_Six for bones_

Claws scrape lines into the concrete. Soon...

_Seven for a murderer no one knows_

Mingi leaps into action. He growls like a canine, frothing at the mouth and rapidly gaining speed. He dashes, kicking harder, stretching further.

_”You can run, little one, but you’ll never escape.”_

She casts a hurried glance over her shoulder. Mingi’s right behind her, running on all fours. He’s catching up fast. 

She topples a stack of boxes in her sprint, hearing Mingi hiss angrily. Her legs are weak, almost giving in, but she pushes herself to continue. She looks behind her again. He’s gone. 

_”Boo.”_

Her knees give in and she stumbles forward at the voice speaking directly into her ear. Mingi drops from the wall and lands beside her. A hand wraps around her throat, the fingers digging into the soft flesh as she’s hoisted into the air. The grip tightens, crushing her windpipe and cutting the air supply, and she trashes as her legs lose ground contact. She kicks at nothing, grabbing onto the arm to relieve some of the pressure on her neck, every movement sending a jolt of excruciating pain down her spine. She cries out, but her voice betrays her, and it comes out as a broken rasp.

_”The thrill of the hunt is the best part, don’t you think?”_

Between the black dots forming in her vision and the tears spilling, she sees Mingi’s horrifying face, tongue swirling around wildly. _He’s smiling._ Her lungs burn with the lack of air, Mingi’s nails breaking her skin, and she’s not sure whether it’s rain water or blood running down her back. 

Mingi laughs as she gasps helplessly, her punches losing their strength and her legs kicking with less vigour. He releases her, her body collapsing powerless on the wet ground. There’s an audible crack as her skull hits the concrete, her breath rattling when she coughs. 

_”Don’t worry, i’m not gonna strangle you to death.”_

She continues heaving for breath, a thick line of blood running between her eyes and down her nose. Fingers dig into the hair and pulls, forcing her to face Mingi straight on. 

His tongue comes out to lick along the scarlet line on her face, humming at the taste, and her heart stops beating. The world stills around her, everything but the rain put on pause as she stares directly into Mingi’s evil eyes.

_”I prefer my meals fresh.”_

His head moves to the side, closing in until she can feel his breath against her skin where her sweater is ripped. Her whimpers sends shivers of pleasure down Mingi’s spine. He lets his tongue glide over her shoulder, a low groan bellowing from the back of his throat. 

“Wh-what are you?” she whispers in a sob, shuddering at the slick warmth roaming her shoulder.

_I’m your worst nightmare, little one._

Jaws crush down into her, his teeth tearing the muscles and scraping into the bones with a loud crunch, and she screams. The sound of it is piercing, ringing through Mingi’s ears like music. It’s pure agony, a harrowing shriek of dread and torment, and Mingi rips the flesh off, drunk on the new volume of her suffering.

_Who knew a sweet girl could wail like that?_

Mingi bites again, this time going for the neck. Time is running out, her scream probably alerted half the block. He needs to be gone by the time someone comes to check. He chomps down, puncturing the artery, and he rips her entire throat out, and she goes mute as Mingi watches that beautiful red gushing out in spurts to make mix with the puddles on the ground. Her breath rattles as she inhales, inwardly drowning in her own blood as it fills her lungs and choking her. 

With a final silent yell, her body jerks at the insufficient intake of oxygen and her eyes roll to the back of her head. Mingi works fast, chewing on bones and organs until what used to be a human is unrecognisable. There’s sirens in the distance, and Mingi decides it’s time to leave. He buries his teeth into the hip joint, thrashing his head until there’s a pop, and then rips the entire leg off. 

There’s already red and blue lights reflecting off the brick walls on both sides of the alley, and he dashes for it, scaling the building behind him with the leg dangling limply from his mouth. As he disappears through a broken window and into the building in hiding, the yellow rain boot slips off and falls to the ground below, splashing into a pool of red next to the vandalized corpse.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave some love, and don't hesitate to let me know if I've missed a tag <3
> 
> hit me up on [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/BazzysAO3?s=09)


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